Hey everyone! Welcome to my stop on the Children of the Plague blog tour hosted by Around the Universe Tours.
Title: Children of the Plague
Author: Gregory Carrico
Publication date: March 15th 2013
Genre: Science Fiction
Source: Review copy
Blog tour organized by: Around the Universe Tours
~ Synopsis ~
In the darkest corners of lower Manhattan, a battle like no other rages. The city is home to a hidden group of survivors of the nanite plague, and a brother and sister born to defend their race. With a touch that can destroy nanites, Lanni, sister of Alex, is their last chance. Can she save her brother? Can she protect mankind's only hope? Or will she be responsible for the destruction of the last humans on earth? It's going to be another long day...
~ My Thoughts ~
My Rating: 5 / 5
I loved what I read from the synopsis of Children of the Plague. I just didn't know how much I would end up loving the book! There's so much more to this story than I thought there would be. At first, I couldn't decide whether people were turning into zombies or aliens or turning into zombies being controlled by aliens. I liked not being certain of what was going on in the beginning - it made everything that much more eerie, and eerie is what I like.
Lanni and Alex are fourteen-year-old twins, yet I think they seemed older. I guess you have to grow up pretty quickly though when faced with the kind of plague they're battling. Lanni is a character easy to connect with and care about while Alex was confusing to me. Lanni mentioned he was sick, but I wasn't sure if it was from the plague or before the plague. I never connected with him because I didn't get a full picture of who he is.
I love science fiction and apocalyptic tales, and I think the author did an excellent job handling the science fiction aspect. If you tend to shy away from this genre because it can be filled with terms and ideas that are hard to keep up with, then you should still read this book because this isn't the case here. I had no trouble keeping up with the story line. Children of the Plague is a unique and fresh breath of air into the science fiction genre.
This world the author has built is scary - aliens have taken over, most of the world's population has been decimated leaving only a small number of human survivors, and if you've survived up until now, there's always the chance you might be drained of all your memories until you're nothing more than a husk. A range of different nightmarish creatures are running around, hunting down any humans still left, and there are some violent death scenes. The parts that really frightened me were not knowing what some of the creatures were and how they killed, not to mention being "drained" of my knowledge and memories.
On a side note, while I was reading this book, late at night I might add, a pounding at my bedroom door made me jump ten feet in the air until I realized one of my cats was trying to get in. My heart rate took over ten minutes to return to normal - that's how scared I was!
I'm interested to read the author's other books. He writes in an engaging way and with the world he has created in this novel, I'm looking forward to the worlds he has created for his other novels.
~ Purchase Links ~
~ Meet the Author: Gregory Carrico! ~
Gregory Carrico is a former dental practice management consultant and software trainer. Abandoning his dream of working the daily grind until death, he was forced into the thankless life of a fiction writer. Now an Amazon.com Best Selling horror and science fiction writer, as well as a 2013 HFA Author of the Year Finalist, he finds a small degree of succor in crafting despicable bad guys and then tricking readers into caring about them.
When not creating new worlds and plotting their destruction, he advocates for adopting rescue dogs, and politely urges slower drivers to get out of the passing lane.
~ Social Links ~
~ Other works by the Author ~
Apocalypstick
Tales from the Mist
King of Rats
The Shadow of the World (Sand #1)
Hi Jennifer. Thank you so much for your kind words. I'm glad you enjoyed Children of the Plague and the world around it. It's a fun place to write because I get to indulge both my sci-fi and scary-horror sides.
ReplyDeleteYou will get to learn more of Alex's story in the next book, and a big part of why he and Lannie behave much older than their years. No spoilers here! In what capacity this part of the story will be shared has to remain a part of the secretive stuff for now. But hopefully the secrets are part of its charm ;-).
Thanks again for your wonderful review.
Cheers!
Greg
Hi Gregory! You're welcome, and I was so excited to be asked to read and review Children of the Plague. It was a lot of fun to read for the same reason it was fun for you to write it. :) I love the mix of sci-fi and horror.
DeleteI'm definitely looking forward to the next book and learning more about Alex. There were times I didn't trust him and was worried he was going to turn on Lannie. I like not knowing everything - the mystery and secrets are a huge part of the enjoyment.
You're welcome! It was my pleasure to read and review your book! :D
Thanks for an insightful review, Jennifer. (I'm going to end up calling you Jen - that's how my brain keeps thinking of you! LOL) The synopsis hooked me, too, but it's your review that makes me think I'll really love this one. I love your use of the word eerie...and I love that you didn't know what was going on. This makes reading such fun. Plagues and aliens and zombies, and the fate of humans resting in a 14 year old's hands? Yes, please! LOL
ReplyDeleteCall me anything but a hooker, LOL. ;) Some readers might not like not knowing exactly what's up, but I love it, especially when you do end up realizing what's really happening. I think it takes a lot of skill as a writer to pull that off, and I'm in awe of that talent. :) I highly recommend this, plus there's another one coming!!
DeleteI read this during the summer and it was a good read. I'm not a big sci-fi fan so I was a bit worried about not 'getting it' but Greg explains everything very simply and I did enjoy the book.
ReplyDeleteI agree - Greg did an excellent job with making sci-fi accessible to anyone who would like to give this genre a try. I read your review on Goodreads, and I thought it was a well written and insightful review. :)
Delete